Obama makes "legitimate" point

Obama allowed that the Republicans had a few "legitimate" points or arguments during the Thursday session over stalled health care legislation. Obama peppered his comments with the word. Here are some examples:

1. "This is a legitimate debate, and it actually speaks to the point that Congressman Camp was making earlier about what's happening in the exchanges."

2. "The issue here, which we've had an honest disagreement about, is how much should government set baseline, versus just letting people decide that, you know, "I can't really get decent insurance but, you know, maybe this is better than nothing"? And that's a legitimate argument. I don't disagree with that."

3. "I think the cost issue is legitimate, and whether we can afford it or not, we'll be discussing that. And I think that's an entirely legitimate discussion."

4. Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) asked Obama, "Why in the world, then, would we carve out 800,000 people in Florida that would not be -- have their Medicare Advantage cut? Now, I proposed an amendment on the floor to say everybody'll be treated the same. Now, Mr. President, why should we carve out 800,000 people, because they live in Florida, to keep the Medicare Advantage program, and then wan to do away with it?"

Said Obama, "I think you make a legitimate point."

5. "...Well, I -- I -- I think that's -- it's a legitimate point. I would just point out that 80 percent of seniors are helping to pay, in extra premiums, for the 20 percent who are in this Medicare Advantage. And it's not means-tested, so it's not as if the people who are in Medicare Advantage are somehow the poor people who can't afford supplementals. It's pretty random."

6. "You can make an argument that whatever savings we get out of Medicare Advantage should not go to filling the doughnut hole, for example. That's a legitimate argument. You can make an argument that it should go just to deficit reduction. You know, those are all legitimate arguments."

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3 Comments

maybe 'legitimate' is a legitimate word used in law schools and by adjunct prof. Obama to encourage students who say boring things; his using all the participant's first name also made it seem like a seminar tho of course the 'students' called him President instead of Professor. Both these pts make him look a bit arrogant.

Whatever healthcare the American public ends up with should be equal to what Senators and Congress workers receive. I wonder why retirees on Social Security receive no increase due to C.P.I. and yet most government workers are receiving 3% or more. Is this what is going to happen with the medical system? Retirees on Social Security helped build this country and a lot of us fought for the freedom we enjoy today.